Security checks due to new digital entry and exit system have caused delays and missed flights for holidaymakersTravellers to the EU have faced additional border security checks since the launch of the digital entry and exit system (EES) last October.The new system means that most non-EU citizens, including those from
Shane Hickey
Travellers to the EU have faced additional border security checks since the launch of the digital entry and exit system (EES) last October.
The new system means that most non-EU citizens, including those from the UK, have to register their biometric information at the border. The checks are causing huge delays and airlines and airports are calling for it to be suspended during the peak summer holiday period, saying some flights are leaving half full and passengers are facing queues of up to five hours.
Introduced to make border crossing faster and more efficient, as well as track who is coming in and out of the EU, the EES was launched last year and has been fully rolled out since April.
Travellers’ faces have to be photographed and fingerprints scanned before they are allowed into Europe’s Schengen area – which comprises 25 of the 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The checks apply to people who are not citizens of one of the 29 Schengen countries, Ireland or Cyprus. It will eventually replace passports being stamped by border officials.
Typically when someone arrives at their destination, they use a self-service screen to register their name, passport details, fingerprints, and the date and place of entry and exit. If going through the port of Dover, Eurotunnel LeShuttle at Folkestone or Eurostar at St Pancras International, EES checks are completed before leaving the UK.
When going home – or if they have been through the system before – people should in theory have a quicker experience as they have already had their data recorded. However, they still have to pass through checks and, in some cases, have to record it again.
The rollout has faced considerable difficulties and delays, which in some cases has resulted in people missing their flights home.
When it was introduced, at some airports queues built up at busy times, which was blamed on the new technology and staffing levels at the border.
At the end of last year, Lisbon airport was forced to suspend the system when waits reached seven hours. In April, about 100 people were stranded in Milan after a flight to Manchester left without them. The border control checks had resulted in queues lasting up to three hours.
Last month, a group of passengers missed their flight from Athens to Luton following delays, prompting angry scenes.
In an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, published on Wednesday, travel industry groups said the situation had “reached a critical point”. Since April it said “waiting times at border control have increased significantly, now reaching up to five hours during peak traffic periods”.
Last week, the head of the company behind Rome’s airports said the system should be suspended to avoid a “disaster” during the summer months, when traffic is at its peak.
ACI Europe, a European airports trade body, has said that individual EU governments had to decide whether to suspend the system, not airports. Its president, Stefan Schulte, said politicians should “stop pretending … that EES is working just fine. It is not.”
In May, French police temporarily suspended the checks at the port of Dover as thousands of holidaymakers faced long delays in hot weather. A spokesperson for the port said they invoked a clause of the EES regulations that allows for checks to be temporarily relaxed.
The letter to von der Leyen, which is signed by ACI Europe along with Airlines 4 Europe and the International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines, is asking for the system to be suspended during the peak summer period.
If you miss your flight, the airline is not obliged to rebook you for free, according to the travel company Kayak. It says that under EU regulations, airlines can classify border delays as extraordinary circumstances, which means that they may avoid paying compensation.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said that travel insurance is unlikely to cover any losses you incur as a result of delays. And Admiral Insurance has said: “We wouldn’t reimburse you for delays caused by the new EU entry/exit system, but we would help out if your trip was delayed due to severe weather or strikes, for instance.”
Passengers have been advised to arrive up to three hours before their flight, but that extra time makes little difference if their airline opens baggage check-in only two hours before take-off, as was the case with one family who contacted the Guardian after missing their easyJet flight home from Málaga due to long queues. They ended up paying £1,000 extra for new flights. However, it seems there is no advice to airlines to open their check-ins earlier.
One way to skip luggage check-in is to take only cabin baggage.
